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I love how... blunt he was about the question. I'll see myself out

Did you look at the rankings? Their top 3 are Nat Geo, Windstar, and Viking. Expedition and ultra luxury lines that cost 10x what Royal Caribbean costs. That's like saying your car is terrible because Rolls Royce and Bentleys are better.

Room pics. This room has an enormous balcony. It juts out over the bend in the ship.

Some early birds for the following sailing are gonna panic as they see the ship move away from the dock as they arrive to the port!

After muster we popped down to Royal Railway to see Jocelle’s husband Eric. He was all smiles & told us that he’s supposed to go home in October a few days before their son turns one. Hopefully Royal doesn’t extend his contract. We gave him his gift & took a selfie for him to send to Jocelle. It’s only 11:30am but we’ve already made 4-5 other stops. I’ll catch up after Mason Jar Brunch. For now, my first Moonlight…

The OP already blew this joint

After 16 long months, we are finally going back on a cruise! Since our resident Utopia sailor Mike isn't starting his blog yet even though he's cruising before me I figured I'd just get started. The cast: Me, DH, and the 14 year old is coming as an 8th grade graduation present. After a really tough 1.5 years, I felt like he needed this reward. Cabin: We booked an Ocean View guarantee. We did this last time on Wonder for a neighborhood balcony and ended up on deck 12 aft above Johnny Rockets (LOVED the location) but this time ocean view was actually cheaper and a guarantee was about $1,500 cheaper than choosing our own room. Cruising in the summer is so expensive! DH & I have the Deluxe Beverage Package and DS has the Refreshment Package. The DBP has been EXPENSIVE for me. People in the FB cruise group have seen it at $71.99 but the lowest for me was around $92! Then the DBP + Royal Beach Club price dropped to $98.99 so we figured we'd try it out for only about $50 more. I was able to get the non-alc one for my son for $91.99. So we were in for about $150. Today the DBP dropped to $84.99 but the DBP+RBC stayed the same, so we decided to cancel the RBC day and get the cheaper DBP price. We were really on the fence if we wanted to try it out or not but ultimately decided staying on the ship is the better option for us right now. We're going back on UT in Feb with friends so if the price is right then maybe we'll try it out. Recently royal came out with the $30 to get your cabin assignment so we decided to do it even after listening to Matt's podcast about it - WE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT DO IT Matt!! So we got our cabin assignment within like 30 minutes and it is deck 7 aft AND THERE ARE NO OTHER CABINS FOR US TO SWITCH TO which is super annoying but all part of the game when you book GTY. There are about 15 midship ocean balcony cabins open but we can only switch to those if we pay more (of course). I did the minimum Royal Up bids on the Ocean View with Large Balcony and the Ultra Spacious Ocean View with large balcony but of course know we aren't going to win. I feel like there is so much more! OH! Our little airport is now flying direct to Orlando (SANFORD THOUGH) on Allegiant (scary!). My husband and I are going to Orlando the first week in June so we can test out this flight. They only fly on Thursdays and Sundays which sucks, but we're going to try it out and hope it works out for us. We'll be flying out of our airport at 5pm on Sunday, getting us into SFB around 9pm and then we'll uber to Port Canaveral. We're staying a holiday inn near the port. Hopefully there are no hiccups because if something happens with that flight, we might have to drive up to MSP to catch an early morning flight the DAY OF THE CRUISE. Fingers crossed all works out... The good news about this is that it's a direct flight and checking a bag was cheaper than paying for a carryon so I can pack a LOT more than I normally would including a ton of sunscreen woohooo!

I'm starting this earlier than usual since the live blog forum is so quiet right now. Standard warning: My intro posts tend to be TLDR. Intro I think everyone is familiar with the Star Wars inspired blog titles by now but for non-fans, this is "Episode I" b/c the films weren't released in chronological order, so this is our 4th Utopia B2B. In case it wasn't obvious, this is also our annual anniversary cruise. Unlike most years, however, we're leaving on our actual anniversary. We usually wind up missing it by a few days. I'll cut this section short b/c the blog fam knows my same ship from PC preference by now and if I have any new readers, they won't exactly be lost. What's Different From Our March Cruise? If you didn't read that blog (how dare you), we sailed with extended family on that one. My FIL generously treated everyone to the UDP for all 7N and an OTW cabana for one of our two PDCC stops (it was going to be both but we cancelled the 2nd one due to lousy weather). While we had a great time and were appreciative of the stuff we wouldn't normally experience on our typical cruises, sailing with family comes with some compromises and hiccups. I also couldn't help but miss some aspects of our usual routine. I discussed all this at the end of the March blog so I'll move on. Obviously the main difference is that it's back to just me and my wife and our aforementioned routine which largely entails lounging in the Solarium, avoiding shows we've already seen and either hated (All In) or just don't feel like seeing for a 6th or 7th time and doing some random stuff at night, sitting by Oasis Lagoon at PDCC and having Snack Shack for lunch, and eating at included venues during the 3N leg since we do have the UDP but only for the 4N leg. We did the same "partial UDP" last July and enjoyed not going overboard for all seven days while also not skipping the included venues entirely. We're also eating a bit later than we did with the family b/c we won't have early-ish shows to get to and it gives us more time in between meals. What's New? Not much... same ship, same routine, same general UDP plan (although our restaurant preferences have changed slightly having done so much specialty in March but I'll get to that in the dining section), same deck 10 forward interior cabin we've had on every Utopia cruise. The only completely new item I can think of is that my wife took a tour of the Thermal Suite last summer and decided she wanted to try it so when a really good sale popped up last November I booked it for her for both legs. By extension, I'll have a bit more alone time than usual while she's in the spa. Assuming she goes in the afternoon, or at least not in the early morning, I plan to use my solo time for snack/drink runs. Maybe it will help me come closer to using up our vouchers than I usually do. Itinerary Obviously we're going back to Nassau and CocoCay (twice). We're staying on the ship in Nassau again and grabbing our usual spot by the Oasis Lagoon on CocoCay (small bonus, we're there with Vision and Jewel respectively so it shouldn't be very crowded). This one is a 4/3 instead of a 3/4 like we did the last two times. I've always preferred to end with a sea day instead of CocoCay but I also think doing the UDP for the first four days instead of the last four will work out better. If I end the first leg in a food coma I can have my turnaround day seafood lunch and then try to recover. Here's what it looks like... Day 1 - PC (Embarkation) Day 2 - Nassau Day 3 - CocoCay Day 4 - Sea Day Day 5 - PC (Turnaround Day) Day 6 - Nassau Day 7 - CocoCay Day 8 - PC (Debarkation) Dining Believe it or not, I tried to shorten this section but it still came out excessively long (which shouldn't surprise anyone given my love of cruise food and tendency to be long-winded). Now that you've been warned, feel free to skip the commentary and just check out our UDP plan if you care to. Traditionally, we didn't do a ton of specialty over the years. Giovanni's (both versions) was always our go-to specialty dinner, then we fell in love with Mason Jar brunch and also became huge Playmakers fans (but I'll consider that semi-specialty since it's a la carte and less expensive than an actual specialty venue with a cover charge). Now that the UDP has allowed us to try more restaurants multiple times as well as frequent our usual spots more often, we have a few new opinions. ⦁ Izumi - I enjoyed it the one time we went but my wife doesn't eat sushi and isn't a huge Japanese fan (she went for me) so that's out. I still get sushi with the daily UDP Izumi in the Park credits so no big deal (I love this added perk on Utopia btw). ⦁ Hooked - We tried it for dinner twice and didn't really like it either time so that's out too. Also no big deal b/c my wife doesn't eat seafood and I'm content with the lobster and shrimp in WJ on Utopia. I know others enjoy it but food is subjective, maybe we got unlucky, who knows? ⦁ Mason Jar - We first tried the brunch and instantly fell in love. My biggest issue there is deciding what to order. With our limited specialty routine, we stuck to brunch and had our dinners elsewhere. We eventually tried dinner and I loved that too. My wife doesn't like the breakfasty items nor does she really eat BBQ so her brunch and dinner are nearly identical which is fine with her b/c there are actually multiple entrees she will eat and she loves one of the desserts. I even order a couple of the same things at both meals but I do like some of the breakfasty stuff for brunch and the ribs for dinner so I'm happy to do both. ⦁ Chops - Perhaps the biggest benefit of trying the UDP is that we learned we both really like Chops (as did the rest of the family in March). My wife enjoyed her filet both there and at GK but we both really liked some of the sides as well as the pretzel bread and the desserts. On top of that, I loved the fried goat cheese salad and I actually prefer ribeye to filet. ⦁ Giovanni's Kitchen - We're still big fans but one of the reasons we had always gone there for filet over Chops was so we could get pasta on the side. I have nothing against potatoes and veggies with my steak (especially at Chops as it turns out), I just like variety and love carbonara. Having now eaten there many times, I came to the conclusion that I prefer the Giovanni's Table version of carbonara. I still like it at GK but it's very thick. Meanwhile, my wife hasn't really liked her alfredo there. All that said, we both still love the desserts (especially the chocolate ravioli), I really like the caprese salad and a couple apps, and we both enjoy the pizza... so it has morphed into a better fit for lunch than dinner for us (although I'll miss the osso buco for dinner). If anyone read all that, I hope it wasn't a complete waste of time. Sometimes I feel like I'm blogging for myself, which I guess is partly true since they do serve as a way to document and remember each cruise. Anyway, here's the current plan which will look redundant to many but it works for us. Day 1 - MJ brunch / Chops dinner Day 2 - GK lunch / MJ dinner Day 3 - PDCC lunch / Chops dinner Day 4 - GK lunch / MJ dinner I plan to again use my Playmakers credit for a last snack before they stop serving food at 11pm. Somehow I think I made it there six out of seven nights in March. I've tried a good portion of the menu and while the burger with garllic parm fries is still my favorite item, that's a big "snack" so I don't have an exact plan but It will probably be some combination of the buffalo crunch rolls, wings, possibly the burger, maybe the onion rings although that's a heavy greasy snack when no one is sharing, who knows? My wife occasionally orders something even though she's not hungry but if she doesn't want anything I may have her order the cookie just for the heck of it. I usually wind up getting my snack to go b/c my wife is often ready for bed by them and I don't want to sit there eating alone and then disturbing her when I get back to the cabin so that's why I've never tried a couple things like nachos (don't see them traveling well). Entertainment We've now seen the aqua and ice shows 5-6 times each but I made reservations anyway and we'll decide if we feel like going once onboard. I'm sure we'll see Aqua80Too at least once b/c we love it. I even enjoy just listening to the music when it's running while I'm getting my snack at Playmakers. We always give adult comedy a shot. We also plan to see Name That Tune b/c we didn't last cruise. It's really just a game show that involves the stage performers and CD but we like game shows and it's something to watch while digesting dinner and using vouchers. That leaves All In which you already know we think is terrible. Anything beyond that usually depends on how tired my wife is and what we find on the schedule. Since we're eating a bit later than we did with the family and we don't stay up super late, if we're not going to a show we can always find something to do for a couple hours before I go to get my last snack and call it a night... Schooner Bar, Pub, Music Hall, etc. Miscellaneous ⦁ Knock on wood, real life is mostly (but never entirely it seems) cooperating at the moment and not interfering with my pre-cruise anticipation too badly like it has at times so I'm happy about that. My wife is always busy with the end of the school year and is unfortunately dealing with some work-related stuff that's making her extra busy this year. The kids are done on Wednesday 5/27. Yes, they go back for two days after being off for Memorial Day then go on Summer break. It's such a waste of time. Some families just go on vacation for Memorial Day weekend and the kids never come back; it's not like there's actually any learning going on for those last two days. Teachers are there until Friday 5/29 but my wife may or may not have more to do during that weekend before we leave on Monday. She has already mentioned starting to organize cruise stuff in advance during her 3-day weekend but it's not like she packs last minute like I do anyway. I'm sure she'll get everything done, I just hope she's not overly stressed in the meantime. ⦁ If you remember me going on and on about Jen, the concierge who we got to know last summer and have now sailed with three times, including in March when she went above and beyond taking care of the family and doing genie-esque stuff for my nieces... well she was originally supposed to go home on our embarkation day but was extended by a week so we get to sail with her again. My wife has kept in touch with her and is waiting to hear if she'll be in the CL or SL. We need to come up with a gift for her b/c she's reluctant to request anything when we ask and since we know she's about to go back home to China, we can't get her stuff she would normally use onboard. ⦁ Our travel plans are the usual... leave at whatever time Waze says will get us to the port a little before 10am, bypass the garage, and park in the surface lot right next door. We used to get there even earlier but multiple people told me that the lots began opening a bit later. They were open with a decent number of cars already parked right around 10am in March so they had to be open earlier that day but it's not a huge deal either way. Boarding began well before 10am, which is standard for Utopia, so we breezed through security and walked right onto the ship since the crowd that was there when boarding began had already cleared out. As much as I enjoy boarding with that initial group, this may have been even smoother. ⦁ My wife found out last week that a former co-worker and friend booked the 2nd leg fairly last minute as a surprise college graduation present for her son. Not only that but by further coincidence their cabin is actually not too far down the hall from ours. I'm sure they'll be doing their own thing and cramming as much into 3N as they can since they've never sailed Utopia before but I also assume we'll at least meet up at some point. She's not a close friend but my wife hasn't seen her in a while and seemed excited that she'll be onboard with us. If nothing else, my wife has been giving her info and advice. As always, questions, comments, and tangents are welcome both pre-cruise and during. As usual, I don't expect to have much to share between now and cruise day.

One of Matt's azipods must have broken.

Left the solarium around 2:00, did muster again, then wife went to the spa & I ran some errands. GS told me our cabin attendant will automatically drop off our old sea passes & Park Cafe finally had plain Lays so I got 3 bags. The promenade & Central Park sounded like a rave earlier but the music isn’t as crazy now. Cruisers of course look even more lost than last leg. Not sure what I’m doing at the moment but I already miss my afternoon sushi. Gonna get some a/c for a bit then figure something out. It’s hot & sunny after we thankfully got some clouds earlier. The 3N cheapskate version of free internet for us is going offline again after sailaway then our 2 free days each cover the rest of the cruise once it hits midnight so I’ll be on the dark side of the moon again. We have far fewer plans this leg. I think we’re done with shows & will just be watching game shows & random stuff in Music Hall or wherever. Thanks to all who have been following along. I know my blogs are very repetitive but until we try Star and go back to 7N cruises with actual excursions, we’re just here to chill with the ship & our routine. Back later or tomorrow.

Day 6 Skagway: @GatorCruiser already noted the shuttle requirement to and from our dock. We were on the hillside where the landslide occurred in 22 so any ship docking in that spot will have that requirement (according to the shuttle bus drivers). We booked a helicopter excursion and glacier hike through royal and it was unbelievable. 20 minute helicopter ride to the glacier, 40 minute guided hike (they provide glacier boots to wear over your shoes (except for my 10 yo with size 2 big kid shoes, they gave him boots to change into)) and a 20 minute helicopter ride back. No bags are allowed in the helicopters so I would recommend coats or hoodies with zippered pockets to stow gloves, hats, phones, and tip money for the glacier guides. The helicopter ride was amazing and the glacier hike was awe inspiring. It was not a cheap excursion by any means but completely worth it. You also got to drink straight from the glacier water and chew glacier ice as your snack! We did the 11 am tour and all aboard was 3pm so our shuttle driver dropped us at the port where we enjoyed Alaskan beers, Alaskan ciders (me), chili, Alaskan seafood chowder, and smoked salmon dip at the salty siren. Not being hangry definitely helped manage the lines getting on the shuttles back to the ship.

Its been awhile since I have done a Liveblog and this is a somewhat unique one in that its our first time to Alaska. Who: Myself, Wife @TarheelCruiser, sons 10 and 12-flying from GSP-->DFW-->YVR (Vancouver) What: stated in title: 7 Night Northbound Alaska & Hubbard Glacier Ovation of the Seas one way from Vancouver to Seward. Then 3 days of land tours thru Royal Including Denali and Talkeetna finishing in Anchorage for flight home Where: flying out tomorrow (Tuesday) to Vancouver, staying at Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place. Doing a Viator tour on Wednesday to Whistler, Thursday explore Vancouver and Dinner at Gordon Ramseys Steak Restaurant. Board Friday. Ship Details: originally booked Grand suite in 2024 but won a Royal up bid to an Owners suite. room 12634. Extremely excited about the large balcony. Originally booked booze package for a sick deal but cancelled as we have D+ vouchers and $600 OBC and probably wont be on ship enough to justify expense. Plus Suite lounge access. Booked unlimited dining package. Wifey booked a 7 day thermal lounge pass, so we will see how she likes it. Ports: Day 2: Sea day; doing iFly, Northstar, Taste of Caribbean Drink tasting, Jaimes for dinner Day 3 Ketchikan: Rainforest Nature trail and Canoe; explore after the excursion Day 4: Icy Strait Point: Whale watching and seafood feast; ship doesn't dock until 4pm so sea day-ish until our tour Day 5 Sitka Day: 1/2 day salmon fishing, hopefully we will catch some to ship home; Chops Day 6: Skagway: Skagway by Helicopter and glacier hike, Izumi Day 7: Hubbard Glacier Day--we have the small boat booked to get a closer look, Chef's table Day 8: Depart ship in Seward (although there is debate on the FB group if it will be Seward or Whittier due to port construction); Motor coach to Alaska Sea Life Center, head to Imaginarium Discovery Center-->Evening on our own in Talkeetna Day 9: Talkeetna to Denali: open morning, then glass doomed rail on Wilderness Express to Denali Day 10: Denali to Anchorage: Denali National Park, motor coach to Anchorage with stop a sled dog kennel; then explore Anchorage on our own Day 11: Fly home ANC-->DFW--> GSP

Meant to post this earlier. Our last towel animal. I’ve seen others get it but this was our first time.

Happy Summer, all! (It feels like summer in Indiana so I’m going with it). DD’s dance recital was yesterday, so with that out of the way, it’s time to start this blog. For those who missed it, we’re on Wonder three times this year. You can read the other two blogs here and here. I had a thought this week that perhaps we should’ve reversed the order of the cruises instead of starting the year with Star class, then sky, and now in a junior suite. #firstworldproblems The Details - • Just me and DH this time • We booked this as a suite guarantee and of course were given a junior suite (deck 9). It was assigned a week ago (so two weeks before we sail). • We were a little disappointed with Coastal Kitchen in April, so we decided to book the UDP. There was a bit of drama with that, mostly with getting the reservations done. If you’ve read Mike’s blog, you know that we attempted to rebook to save money, and ended up having to call Royal to get it fixed. All that said, our reservations are - -Day 1 lunch - Mason Jar; dinner - Hooked -Day 2 dinner - Gio’s -Day 3 dinner - Chops -Day 4 lunch - Izumi; dinner - 150CP • We also have the DBP, Coco Beach Club at PDCC, and we’re trying the Royal Beach Club. • We aren’t planning to see any shows. But are hoping the pub singer from April is still on. Easily our favorite - very engaging and sings a wide range of songs. • As in April, we’re staying on Miami Beach - CitizenM South Beach. • Flying SWA Indy to Miami, but on the return flying out of FLL to Indy (and the flight is on the earlier side, so we’ll do self assist off the ship). One week to go!

I think the view of the mountain is even better than yesterday. Very clear.

Towel animals for the 4N leg (got one everyday except embarkation of course). Our cabin attendant also randomly left us a nice little supply of toiletries for some reason. And no, she’s not from the Jersey Shore.

We’re back in the Solarium digesting GK lunch. I think I left off with Chops. After dinner we went back to the cabin to change & rest for a bit since Name That Tune wasn’t until 10:15pm and we were stuffed. Even though we don’t get dressed up we often go back to super casual after dinner. I got to wear my spiffy new Utopia pullover I posted about way back at the beginning of the blog because the theater is almost as freezing as our cabin. As we approached our door a crew member with a cart was leaving & said he dropped off something from guest services. We had no idea what it could be. Turns out it was a bunch of anniversary gifts from Jen including an AI photo with a very sweet handwritten message on the back. Have I mentioned how great she is? The AI caricature actually kind of looks like me but my wife said “it put you with some random blond woman.”

Lots of weirdness at PC today. First, we made good time and got here at 9:45am… and the garage and lots had to have been open for at least a little while like they used to be. We parked plenty close to the garage in the lot next door but not 1st row. Next, they changed express boarding that I had just described yesterday. It’s back to the first version. We had to go through the main metal detectors and then check-in upstairs in the express boarding area. Not a huge deal as there was no line to check-in but the regular area had shirt lines and the metal detectors didn’t take long. It seems they removed express boarding from the suite/Pinn line and added the Royal One cardholders instead. Oh well. The weirdest part now is that it’s 10:10am and boarding hasn’t begun. We’re sitting in the terminal waiting with a small crowd that’s growing. We’ve been on the promenade pre-10am before so this is super late for Utopia. All in all, none of this is a big deal, just sharing.

North Star extended experience was fantastic. We saw so many whales spout and a couple surface. @GatorCruiser is ready to book another Alaskan cruise.

Boarded. Process is interesting, check in , then security, then customs, then scan boarding passes and board. Definitely not car to bar in 15 minutes like it is for Caribbean cruises. first drinks and we found our first “duck” , a husky!

I booked this cruise in January after shoveling the driveway during the first snowstorm we had this year. I needed something to help me get through the winter. I have been sailing solo on my last 4 Celebrity cruises but this time I invited my sister (Jill). She is an ICU nurse in Westchester, NY and is my land (and sometimes cruise) vacation buddy. This is my 4th Celebrity cruise to Bermuda and my sister's 2nd. I have also done a few RC cruises to Bermuda and try to get in a Bermuda land vacation once a year. It is my favorite island. My family has been going there for 50 years (OMG I’m getting old). We are sailing out of Cape Liberty NJ so no flying for us (so happy). It’s about a 75-minute drive for me from Bucks County, PA and probably an hour for my sister. Our check in time is 11 so we’ll get there about 10:15 just before the port traffic gets jammed up. I managed to book a prime concierge class balcony on deck 10 (snagged a large balcony) for the same price as a regular balcony. There really isn’t much of an advantage to concierge class. You get better cabin location (higher decks), special embarkation lunch, pillow menu, a bottle of some sort of sparkling wine (I won’t drink it I’ll break out in hives so it’s all Jill’s), afternoon canapes delivered to the cabin (cheese and fruit) and 5 C&A points per night (only 2 points for regular balcony). We both have the Ultimate Bundle: Premium Drinks & Wi-Fi (2 devices each) package which I got on during the President’s Day sale at a really great price. Specialty restaurants never really had any good deals and that’s okay. We’re fine eating in the MDR. Itinerary: DAY DATE PORTS-OF-CALL ARRIVE DEPART SUN 31 MAY CAPE LIBERTY, NJ (NY METRO) 4:00 PM SUN 31 MAY STATUE OF LIBERTY (CRUISING) 4:45 PM 5:30 PM MON 01 JUN AT SEA TUE 02 JUN AT SEA WED 03 JUN ROYAL NAVAL DOCKYARD, BERMUDA 8:30 AM THU 04 JUN ROYAL NAVAL DOCKYARD, BERMUDA FRI 05 JUN ROYAL NAVAL DOCKYARD, BERMUDA 4:00 PM SAT 06 JUN AT SEA SUN 07 JUN CAPE LIBERTY, NJ (NY METRO) 7:00 AM Things we have planned on Bermuda: Wednesday 6/3: We have a 2-reef snorkeling excursion reserved at 9:30. That night we will take the ferry to Hamilton for their Harbor Nights street festival that runs from 7-10 (it’s every Wednesday from mid- May until mid- September). Thursday 6/4: We will take the ferry over to Hamilton (again) and pick up our electric car at the Hamilton Princess Hotel. We have no plans, so we’ll just drive around and play it by ear. We will be meeting family friends that live on the Island for drinks and to catch up.

Got up at 5:30am to finish packing & get ready. Went up to deck 16 & watched the launch with about 30 people. Very cool. Finishing breakfast in WJ then probably leaving shortly. Last updates from home later.

Is it just me or do I have the same backsplash as that CL???

Ship facts History Name Silver Wind Owner Silversea Cruises Operator Silversea Cruises Port of registry Nassau, Bahamas Ordered 1994 Builder Visentini Shipyard Yard number 776 Laid down 1995 Launched 16 October 1995 Completed 1995 Maiden voyage 1995 Identification Call sign C6FG2 IMO number: 8903935 MMSI number: 308814000 Status In service General characteristics [1] Type Cruise ship Tonnage 16,800 GT Length 156 metres long Beam 21 metres wide Draft 4.5 metres draft Decks 7 Speed 21.9 knots Capacity 294 passengers Crew 208 Pricing and Rooms Let's get price out of the way. Like I said before, I thought Silver Sea was out of my price range. I started looking at the line when status match started. As a Pinnacle you are treated as a VS 500 member which gives you 10% off non last minute fares. On some sailings you are eligible for an additional 5%. There is a 500.00 referral fee available after your first sailing where you and your referree each receive the 500.00. There is also a 5% future cruise if you book on board. When I started looking at the cruises in April, this one caught my eye. I watched it for a bit and then a GTY Oceanview lastminute fare came up at a 7800.00 per person (Originally 13,650). It did not qualify for the 10 % off. So roughly 3900.00 per week. Celebrity Retreat Caribbean on the new ships have been running about 2600.00 fare only not including tips or excursions, which can run another 800. So 3200.00 all in. It really wasn't much of a price difference, especially since all rooms are considered suites and each have a butler and a really cool itinerary. All Veranda rooms are the same size,the price difference comes in by the location. I booked the trip as an OceanviewGTY. I am not picky about where we were and there are no bad rooms on the ship. I was awarded a mid ship Veranda. The Cruise We are embarking on the Silver Wind from Reykjavik on June 18th and ending in NUUK,Greenland on June 30th. We then have a charter flight to Montreal where there is a included Marriott in Montreal before we fly home the next day. We leave Atlanta on June 15th arriving June 16th am . They make it very convenient to go to the Blue Lagoon from the airport with a Shuttle (pay),luggage storage, and shuttle to downtown Reykjavik . We will stay downtown at the Radisson Blu 1919 near the old harbor. Since is is a small ship,it can dock at the Old Harbour which makes it so much nicer. We ended up booking a Golden Circle tour on the 17th which is also Iceland's Independence Day. That should be exciting to be a part of. We embark on the 18th,but will do a lava tube cave exploration in the morning before joining the ship. As a side note,they do offer an excursion to go snorkeling between the continents. They do require a doctors note for anyone over 60. It was a 45 minute tour in frigid water, even though we are adventurous we prefer the warmer waters. Pre planning and Packing This is probably the hardest part. I can be ready and packed for a normal cruise in 1 day. This takes a little bit more planning. Silver Sea does have a dress code,that had recently been relaxed. They do allow refined denim and sporty shoes for men and no jackets required. They want a Elegant Casual after 5 with a Resort Casual during the day. I generally do not care what people wear, and I tend to dress nicer, so it really doesn't bother me. They do say on Expedition ships the dress code is a little more relaxed,so we will see. I will post my outfits I wear to give people an idea. Silver sea does have an Artic packing list they recommend you follow. They do provide a free parka and have a rental program for boots and cold weather gear. They want base layers, hats, gloves, and boots for wet landings. There is a 50 pound weight limit on the charter flight. I had to reduce my shoe count from about 20 to maybe 8. I will add a few more if the bag is underweight. You can sign up for excursions and optional dining very easily on the website. They do offer a few extra pay restaurants for those interested. Many days you will need to sign up the excursions on the ship that are led by the team. They may not know conditions until the day before and plans can change. They do have an extensive check in procedure getting your preferences on the website, You can ask for bottle service as well for your room.

Day 5 Sitka. Port time was 8 am-3:30 pm. Slightly difficult get up and go for this family since we boarded the night before at 1030 pm and had to meet in the theater at 8 am for our 1/2 day salmon fishing tour. We booked through royal and it was fine. The boats met us at the dock and only had groups of 5 per boat. We went out and the weather was sunny and warm. Again our captain kept commenting how this was extremely unusual. Most of use shed our base layers at some point in the boat. The water was a bit rough (our youngest did not enjoy despite having Zofrsn on board) and the kelp was kelping; it kept tangling our lines. Overall we hooked 4 fish. One salmon was that we lost trying to net, one that was too small to keep, one that got off the line as soon as we got to surface, and one rock fish that our captain kept for tacos tonight. Sad for me, no king salmon to ship home but a fun adventure. We saw a couple of whales and a sea otter, that refused to move for our boat. He was a cutie. After the tour, we took the shuttle into town and walked around a bit and got a snack of fish n chips. We had to wait in a 20 minute shuttle line to get back to the boat, but it moved quick. Overall a great day, I hope the nice weather holds out so we can do our helicopter tour to the glacier tomorrow in Skagway.

So far behind. Quick update to post content. Day 4 was icy straight. We went on a whale watching boat tour that was cool and we saw a bunch of humpback whales breach the surface. Also brown bears and bald eagles, and had a nice seafood feast at the end. More to come.

No need to report from the Schooner on my account! Even though we are getting up there ourselves, that's the old people bar to us. We call it the matching haircut bar ... you know how when old married couples eventually get the same short gray or white hair cut??? Like the wife stops driving and to be more efficient, they just go to the same barber? Bonus points if they're the ones who request Piano Man, or heaven forbid, Sweet....

Chops dinner Caesar salad Fried goat cheese salad Filet Ribeye Gruyere tots, mashed, creamed spinach Key lime meringue Chocolate lava cake Anniversary slice Truffle dessert drink (basically an espresso martini with frangelico). The drink runner accidentally brought two so they told me to just keep it. I embarrassingly didn’t come close to finishing everything I ordered. Not sure why I got so full last night but it made me not feel as bad about skipping Playmakers after.

I’ll catch up later. Didn’t get to the CL until 6:45am (yes, @SweetPea, that’s late for some of us). Only saw maybe 8 people on my walk across deck 16. Sun had already come out but it was nice out. I’m alone in here with some crew finishing the food set up. Wife went walking with her friend (they walk together at home if I left that part out). I think the plan is for me to grab our Solarium spot after I’m done in the CL.

I went 3 out of 4 with the new pre-cruise request form. There were extra towels, ice, & a paper compass (that one was mostly just out of curiosity) waiting in our cabin. No luck with extra hangers so I’ve got some shirts lying on the loveseat until we meet our cabin attendant. The onboard request link in the app isn’t working. My wife went to check out the thermal suite so I’m solo for a bit. We already ran into her friend who’s onboard with her 21 year old daughter. I feel disorganized so I’m just gonna dump some pics. As you’ll see, I had to at least have a few lobster tails in WJ before brunch & a tiny bit of chicken tikka masala. As usual, we’ll likely go without internet after sailaway & share our free D+ days starting tomorrow so I’ll disappear at some point. We have our anniversary dinner at Chops tonight & reservations for a 9:30 Name That Tune that doesn’t exist b/c well Royal IT is the best. The compass & CD say it’s 8 & 10:15. Normally we’d just go at 10:15, no big deal, but Playmakers stops serving food at 11 so not sure what we’re doing after dinner. Pre-brunch in an empty WJ… Park Cafe had chips but not the plain my wife wanted… I found a very classy men’s room on deck 5…

First, me getting it should have tipped you off that it's free. If you scan your passport, add a good photo, and check-in fully online, when you answer the health questions in the app the day before the cruise, there's a good chance that the screen I posted will show up letting you know you were given express boarding.

So as we await boarding, I wanted to give my take on the Pan pacific hotel. Great location, pretty, we used luggage service where they take your bags from your room to the ship, which is clutch for the reasons I will detail below. Starbucks at ground level. We dined once for breakfast at oceans 999 which was great. However, the elevator situation has been less than ideal. They only have a 4 pack to service a 23 story hotel that houses at least hundreds of pre cruisers with luggage. Getting an elevator has been a challenge. This am we wanted coffee from the Starbucks at ground level. Our room is located on floor 10. Took several minutes for an elevator car to come and even then it was packed so we decided to take the stairs. The stairs are the craziest convoluted thing I’ve ever seen, like a combination of an MC Escher painting plus Hogwarts magical stairs plus inception the Christopher Nolan movie. They zigzagged and went up and down. Made for an interesting trek to get coffee. Anyway, be forewarned , it’s been great, but the elevator situation is not ideal.

After we diverted East of the Bahamas to avoid the weather and headed back towards land, we were given a "shortcut" and arrived in Detroit almost on our original schedule! Then the inevitable delay came as our plane to Elmira sat in Milwaukee for an extra hour, then we watched a trainee take over 20 minutes to connect the jet way once it arrived at our gate Once we got going the flight to ELM was quick and we gathered luggage and made the 3 mile drive home before 1 AM. Work was too early this morning. Jack is back in his natural habitat being a slug. Thank you all for following along, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as we did posting. Celebrity Beyond is less than 140 Days out, and I can't wait to start that blog!

Got some random stuff in WJ to nibble on in Solarium. I’ve been keeping my breakfasts small b/c of the UDP & missing them. In hindsight, might as well have gotten an omelet, sounds bigger but it’s not all carbs like what I’ve been eating.

Yes we were up against the hillside , I assume because we are the biggest ship in port.

We got off a little after 8am. It was overcast but doesn’t seem like rain until after noon & not much if we even get some. Now the sun is coming out & it’s getting pretty warm. I didn’t think I was going in the pool to cool off but I was wrong. DJ iPod is back to 90’s/2000’s. Should be a relaxing day.

So next tangent topic - 46 years for me & Roger this year.

Pre-dinner Playmakers. Am I doing the UDP correctly, @OCSC Mike?

Short version of one story… We went to MJ to get that Moonlight & see Jay, a server we met last cruise. The supervisor said he was working at ELF but he wasn’t up there. After we got to MJ for brunch & ordered our food, Jay appeared. He said the supervisor was new & still getting to know everyone. So we chatted & told him we’d be back to see him for dinner. Mason Jar pics…

Dueling first MJ drinks

On the way here we passed a motorcade of some sort going away from the cape that seemed to be guarding the unknown object below. My best guess was that it’s debris from the rocket that exploded last week but that’s just a guess.

Day 3 Ketchikan Docked at 730am at Ward Cove, however we did not get off the boat until around 9:15am to do our canoeing/rainforest hike. It was a short shuttle ride to Tongass National Forest where we boarded our canoes. We canoed around Harriet Hunt lake with our guide. The canoes held ~20 people and some benches had 3 to a seat. I chose to be a canoe princess for the first 75% of the trip and let all my boys row. It was leisurely and the hike was a boarded trail, so easy to maneuver. We saw a 650 year old sitka spruce tree that was still growing. We had snacks of smoked salmon dip, jam, bread and delicious chowder. We headed back to ward cove after the trip and hopped on the free shuttle downtown. We walked around a bit, shopped and had lunch. Honestly, the mill house at the port had great stuff for souvenirs, very similar to what we saw downtown. All aboard was at 530 pm. We got in line for the shuttle at 415 and got right on. Other people on our FB group posted they waited until closer to 430 (last shuttle) and they were waiting for a bit. Overall, great time, just wish we had more time in downtown.

It was a long day indeed but a nice way to get out of town and see the topography. I enjoyed the gondola and the suspension bridge was scary but doable. This area is so stupid lovely. Truly breathtaking.

Today was our excursion thru Viator. We were picked up at 8am at our hotel in a van with about 6 other people. First stop was Shannon falls where we spent about an hour. Then we drove an hour north to the “sea to land”gondola in Squamish where spent 2 hours and was really cool and beautiful. Next we drove another hr north to whistler village where we had 3 hours to spend. The village is neat with shop and restaurants. Also many reminders of the 2010 Winter Olympics. All told with drive back it was close to 11 hrs. We really enjoyed it and was a great way to see the area while some line else drove and narrated.

Oh yeah, and back on topic...

and now, a poem: cococay on the final day IS THE WAY!!!!!

Some of us introverts aren't too interested in making new friends either way, lol. I like to stay in our bubble and enjoy the cruise with my wife but if we happen to strike up a conversation with someone onboard, that's cool. Needless to say, I'd never look to make plans with strangers ahead of time (blog friends don't count since I don't consider them strangers even if we've never met IRL and I've met a handful of them on cruises). TBH, we're more likely to get to know certain crew members from venues we frequent. My wife (not an introvert like me) has even kept in touch with several of them via social media over the years.

AI

I'd love to trim off my fat and give it to my husband